Thursday, January 21, 2010

Back in the saddle...

Long before moving from my old blog (verstand-y.blogspot.com) to this one, I often blogged about fitness. Or at least, my attempts at being fitter.

Once I became prego, that topic somehow took a back seat (can't imagine why) and I while I have exercised in some form some of the time since then, it hasn't been a priority or a regular part of my routine.

Since being unemployed does afford me more time than I once had, I decided that today I would return to the gym.

Yes, I have a gym membership. I have had a membership to this gym for about 2 years. I have only set foot in it once before today. That still qualifies today as a "return", doesn't it?

The gym is about a 2 minute drive from my house, so I set out today to begin a new routine of REGULARLY working out. Not working and being that close to workout equipment, which I am already paying for and have been for an embarassingly long time, leaves me very little in the way of excuses not to. So I threw on some baggy clothes, Yankees cap, grabbed the iPhone and headed out.

Working out in the middle of the day is very different from when I've worked out in the past. Usually I went before normal working hours or after - both times tend to have a crowd that looks like they belong at the gym. They look like they know what they are doing, in outfits designed specifically for the purpose of working out, and bodies to compliment aforementioned outfits.

I was always a bit out of place in those crowds.

Today I felt a bit out of place in a different way. I would estimate the median age in the gym today to be 50. A couple of scrawny teenagers kept the median shy of collecting social security. This made for some very unique choices in the area of exercise garb, so unique that I was tempted to whip out the phone and take a photo. But then I thought, who am I to make fun? After all, in a crowded room I don't exactly turn around when someone yells "Hey, Slim!"

So, while I may not fit in with my midday crowd, at least I feel that no one there will be judging me. I can sweat it out to Jerry Springer* in relative peace (today's episode: "Sex, Chicken, Candy!" I kid you not.)

We'll see how long I last this time around.

Listening to: Aladdin on TVCurrent Mood: productive*I should clarify that while Jerry Springer was on, I didn't actually choose to listen to him while I worked out. Actually, Sondheim seemed to be in heavy rotation in my iTunes, which doesn't exactly make me sound any better in this clarification. Ah, well. At least it's honest.